


day two: cisco character fic

by Hannah (hannahoftheinternet)



Series: HartmonFest 2019 [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Character Analysis, Character Study, Cisco Ramon Needs A Hug, Hartmon Fest 2019, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, POV Hartley Rathaway, POV Third Person, Present Tense, Stream of Consciousness, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 15:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17852549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahoftheinternet/pseuds/Hannah
Summary: Hartley likes to think, and he thinks about Cisco a lot.





	day two: cisco character fic

It’s not Cisco’s intelligence that draws him in. Not really. If he were dumb as a rock, though, or even of average intelligence, Hartley wouldn’t spare him a second glance. Intelligence is the main trait that comes to mind. To Hartley’s mind, anyway. If he were playing that inane word association game and someone said “Cisco Ramon,” Hartley would respond with “genius.”

He’s hung around Team Flash for a while. He knows that Cisco doesn’t get enough credit for the things he’s done. Sometimes, it seems like they just see him as the comic relief. He knows that’s bullshit, though. He knows that Barry and Caitlin love Cisco.

His smile could be part of it, too. That big, puppy-dog grin when he’s just made a  _ particularly  _ bad pun. That smile definitely breaks the tension at S.T.A.R. Labs. There seems to be a lot of tension these days.

Oddly enough, his sadness is attractive. He seems so sad lately, like he’s keeping a secret. Secrets are hard, and Hartley would do a lot of things to hear Cisco’s. He’s not above listening to Cisco’s muttered remarks with his dark-matter-enhanced hearing, but all he catches is quiet  _ Star Wars _ references and rude words directed at whomever happens to be bothering him.

His general geekery definitely helps. It’s too cute when his eyes light up at the mention of warp drive (in their workplace, it comes up more often than one would think), and they sometimes have to deal with stuff straight out of  _ Harry Potter _ , which makes Cisco beam even as he’s being attacked.

Who is he kidding, really? It’s difficult and frankly insulting to reduce Cisco down to these parts. Cisco is  _ Cisco _ , not an amalgam of personality traits. He’s not a fish, he’s not a buffalo, he’s Cisco. He walks and talks and laughs and cries and keeps lollipops in his car and drinks Slurpees in December and owns a button down shirt with little Flash lightning bolts all over it. No one else in the world is Cisco.

Now, he’s leaning over his computer, not even bothering to sit, typing a mile a minute and shouting street names through his microphone at The Flash, who is presumably off on some heroic errand. Hartley watches him do a victory dance, Barry having presumably caught the bad guy. Cisco holds out his hand to fist bump everyone in the room, even touching his knuckles to Hartley’s. And Hartley has to smile, because Cisco’s joy is infectious.

He’s joyful, and loud, and secretly afraid of something. Hartley wants to say something, something like  _ fear hurts, I know. Sometimes the only way to stop the hurting is to cover up the fear. But it’s going to fester, and then you’re going to have an even bigger problem. You need to clean the wound, tell someone who cares about you. I hope fear doesn’t crush your spirit. I like your spirit. I like you. _

For now, he watches Cisco. He lets that be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Some explanations, simply because I want to explain things:
> 
> This is set in the Team Flash!Hartley timeline, a few days/weeks before E2!Wells arrives and Cisco reveals his powers.
> 
> I sort of elaborated on Hartley's powers, making it so that he still has superhearing even with the hearing aids, which block out/modulate the volume of background noise and such. (My personal headcanon, which will come up later.)
> 
> Here's the Flash button down: https://wornontv.net/51792/
> 
> Comments are a writer's best friend!


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